Edward The Martyr
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Edward the Martyr ( – 18 March 978) was
King of the English This list of kings and reigning queens of the Kingdom of England begins with Alfred the Great, who initially ruled Wessex, one of the heptarchy, seven Anglo-Saxon kingdoms which later made up modern England. Alfred styled himself king of the ...
from 8 July 975 until he was killed in 978. He was the eldest son of King Edgar (r. 959–975). On Edgar's death, the succession to the throne was contested between Edward's supporters and those of his younger half-brother, the future King
Æthelred the Unready Æthelred II (,Different spellings of this king's name most commonly found in modern texts are "Ethelred" and "Æthelred" (or "Aethelred"), the latter being closer to the original Old English form . Compare the modern dialect word . ; ; 966 ...
. As they were both children, it is unlikely that they played an active role in the dispute, which was probably between rival family alliances. Edward's principal supporters were Dunstan,
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...
, and Æthelwine, Ealdorman of East Anglia, while Æthelred was backed by his mother, Queen Ælfthryth and her friend Æthelwold, Bishop of Winchester. The dispute was quickly settled. Edward was chosen as king and Æthelred received the lands traditionally allocated to the king's eldest son in compensation. Edgar had been a strong and overbearing king and a supporter of the monastic reform movement. He had forced the lay nobility and secular clergy to surrender land and sell it at low prices to the monasteries. Æthelwold had been the most active and ruthless in seizing land for his monasteries with Edgar's assistance. The nobles took advantage of Edgar's death to get their lands back, mainly by legal actions but sometimes by force. The leading magnates were split into two factions, the supporters of
Ælfhere, Ealdorman of Mercia Ælfhere (died in 983) was Ealdorman of Mercia. His family, along with those of Æthelstan Half-King and Æthelstan Rota, rose to greatness in the middle third of the 10th century. In the reign of Edward the Martyr, Ælfhere was a leader of the Eng ...
, and Æthelwine, who both seized some monastic lands which they believed belonged to them, but also estates claimed by their rivals. The disputes never led to warfare. Edward's short reign was brought to an end by his murder in March 978 in unclear circumstances. He was killed on the Dowager Queen Ælfthryth's estate at the Gap of Corfe in
Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...
, and hurriedly buried at Wareham. A year later, his body was translated with great ceremony to
Shaftesbury Abbey Shaftesbury Abbey was an abbey that housed nuns in Shaftesbury, Dorset. It was founded in about 888, and Dissolution of the monasteries, dissolved in 1539 during the English Reformation by the order of Thomas Cromwell, minister to King Henry VI ...
in Dorset. Contemporary writers do not name the murderer, but almost all narratives in the period after the
Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...
name Ælfthryth. Some modern historians agree, but others do not. Another theory is that the killers were
thegn In later Anglo-Saxon England, a thegn or thane (Latin minister) was an aristocrat who ranked at the third level in lay society, below the king and ealdormen. He had to be a substantial landowner. Thanage refers to the tenure by which lands were ...
s of Æthelred, probably acting without orders. Medieval kings were believed to be sacrosanct, and Edward's murder deeply troubled contemporaries who regarded it as a mortal sin. He soon came to be revered as a saint, and his feast of 18 March is listed in the festal calendar of the ''
Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the title given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christianity, Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The Book of Common Prayer (1549), fi ...
'' of the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
. Edward was known in his own time for physical and verbal abuse of his associates and companions, and historians consider his veneration thoroughly undeserved.


Sources

The historian Levi Roach comments: "Little is known about Edward's reign save what can be gleaned from a few short notices in the ''Chronicle'' and the three authentic charters in his name." Other pre- Conquest sources include Charter S 937 of around 999, which gives details of his election as king, Byrhtferth of Ramsey's ''Life of St Oswald'', written around 1000, and parts of some manuscripts of the ''
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is a collection of annals in Old English, chronicling the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The original manuscript of the ''Chronicle'' was created late in the ninth century, probably in Wessex, during the reign of ...
'' (''ASC''). The ''Passio et Miracula Sancti Eadwardi Regis et Martyris'' ('' Passion and Miracles of Saint Edward, King and Martyr''), was written around 1100, perhaps by the
hagiographer A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an wiktionary:adulatory, adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religi ...
Goscelin. Post-Conquest chroniclers giving accounts of Edward's reign include William of Malmesbury and
John of Worcester John of Worcester (died c. 1140) was an English monk and chronicler who worked at Worcester Priory. He is now usually held to be the author of the . Works John of Worcester's principal work was the (Latin for "Chronicle from Chronicles") or ...
.


Background

In the ninth century,
Anglo-Saxon England Anglo-Saxon England or early medieval England covers the period from the end of Roman Empire, Roman imperial rule in Roman Britain, Britain in the 5th century until the Norman Conquest in 1066. Compared to modern England, the territory of the ...
came under increasing attack from
Viking Vikings were seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway, and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded, and settled throughout parts of Europe.Roesdahl, pp. 9 ...
raids, culminating with an invasion by the Viking
Great Heathen Army The Great Heathen Army, also known as the Viking Great Army,Hadley. "The Winter Camp of the Viking Great Army, AD 872–3, Torksey, Lincolnshire", ''Antiquaries Journal''. 96, pp. 23–67 was a coalition of Scandinavian warriors who invaded ...
in 865. By 878, the Vikings had overrun the kingdoms of
Northumbria Northumbria () was an early medieval Heptarchy, kingdom in what is now Northern England and Scottish Lowlands, South Scotland. The name derives from the Old English meaning "the people or province north of the Humber", as opposed to the Sout ...
,
East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...
, and
Mercia Mercia (, was one of the principal kingdoms founded at the end of Sub-Roman Britain; the area was settled by Anglo-Saxons in an era called the Heptarchy. It was centred on the River Trent and its tributaries, in a region now known as the Midlan ...
, and nearly conquered
Wessex The Kingdom of the West Saxons, also known as the Kingdom of Wessex, was an Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy, kingdom in the south of Great Britain, from around 519 until Alfred the Great declared himself as King of the Anglo-Saxons in 886. The Anglo-Sa ...
, but in that year the West Saxons achieved a decisive victory at the Battle of Edington under King
Alfred the Great Alfred the Great ( ; – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who both died when Alfr ...
(871–899). Over the next fifty years, the West Saxons and Mercians gradually conquered the Viking-ruled areas, and in 927 Alfred's grandson
Æthelstan Æthelstan or Athelstan (; ; ; ; – 27 October 939) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 924 to 927 and King of the English from 927 to his death in 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder and his first wife, Ecgwynn. Modern histori ...
(924–939) became the first king of all England when he conquered Northumbria. He was succeeded by his half-brother and Edward's grandfather,
Edmund Edmund is a masculine given name in the English language. The name is derived from the Old English elements ''ēad'', meaning "prosperity" or "riches", and ''mund'', meaning "protector". Persons named Edmund include: People Kings and nobles *Ed ...
, who almost immediately lost control of the north to the Vikings, but recovered full control of England by 944. He was killed in a brawl with an outlaw in 946, and as his sons Eadwig and
Edgar Edgar is a commonly used masculine English given name, from an Anglo-Saxon name ''Edgar'' (composed of ''wikt:en:ead, ead'' "rich, prosperous" and ''Gar (spear), gar'' "spear"). Like most Anglo-Saxon names, it fell out of use by the Late Midd ...
were infants, their uncle Eadred (946–955) became king. Like Edmund, Eadred inherited the kingship of the whole of England and soon lost it when
York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...
(southern Northumbria) accepted a Viking king, but he recovered it when the York magnates expelled King Erik Bloodaxe in 954. Eadred's key advisers included Dunstan, Abbot of Glastonbury and future
Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...
. Eadred, who suffered from ill health, was in his early thirties when he died in 955, and Eadwig succeeded at the age of around fifteen. He was the first king since the early ninth century not to face the threat of imminent foreign invasion, and England remained free from Viking attacks until 980, after Edward's death. From the start, Eadwig demonstrated his determination to establish his independence from his uncle's advisers. He clashed with Dunstan and sent him into exile. In 957, the kingdom was divided between Eadwig, who kept Wessex, and Edward's father Edgar, who became king of Mercia and other lands north of the
Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...
. It is unclear whether this had been planned since the beginning of his reign or was the result of a successful revolt brought about by Eadwig's incompetence. Eadwig died in 959, and Edgar succeeded to the rule of the whole kingdom. Eadwig had appointed Ælfhere to be
ealdorman Ealdorman ( , )"ealdorman"
''Collins English Dictionary''. was an office in the Government ...
of Mercia, and he became the premier layman, a status he retained until his death in 983. His rise was at the expense of the family of
Æthelstan Half-King Æthelstan Half-King (fl. 932 – 956) was an Ealdorman of East Anglia who served five kings of England, including Edgar, King of England, Edgar, who was brought up by Æthelstan's wife Ælfwynn, wife of Æthelstan Half-King, Ælfwynn, following ...
, Ealdorman of East Anglia, leading to a rivalry between the families which disrupted the country in Edward's reign. The Benedictine reform movement reached its peak in Edgar's reign under the leadership of Dunstan, Oswald, Archbishop of York, and Æthelwold, Bishop of Winchester. It became dominant as a result of the strong support of Edgar, earning him high praise by contemporary and later monastic chroniclers. He was a strong, indeed overbearing ruler, and he enriched Benedictine monasteries by forcing the aristocracy and secular (non-monastic) religious institutions to surrender land to them. Æthelwold was the most active and ruthless of the Benedictine leaders in securing land to support his monasteries, in some cases driving secular clergy out of their establishments in favour of monks. Edgar died at the age of only thirty-one or thirty-two in 975.


Family

Edward, who was born in around 962, was the eldest of the four known children of King Edgar. No contemporary source gives the name of Edward's mother, and post-Conquest sources give varying accounts. The earliest is a life of Dunstan by Osbern of Canterbury, written around 1090. He wrote that Edward's mother was a nun at Wilton Abbey whom the King seduced, and Dunstan punished Edgar by imposing a seven-year penance which delayed his coronation. Osbern's account is rejected by later chroniclers and modern historians. When Eadmer wrote a life of Dunstan in the early twelfth century, he included an account of Edward's parentage which he obtained from his friend Nicholas of Worcester, who consulted ancient chronicles. Nicholas said that Edward was the son of Edgar's lawful wife Æthelflæd ''candida'' (the white), daughter of Ealdorman Ordmær. No ealdorman with that name is known, but some historians identify Æthelflæd's parents as a ''vir potens'' (powerful man) called Ordmær and his wife Ealde, who gave Hatfield in
Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...
to Æthelstan Half-King in exchange for land in Devon. John of Worcester, writing in the early twelfth century, also said that Edward was the son of Æthelflæd, adding that she had the byname ''eneda'' (duck). Edgar, who was brought up by Æthelstan Half-King's wife
Ælfwynn __NOTOC__ Ælfwynn was the ruler of Mercia as the 'Second Lady of the Mercians' for a few months in 918, following her mother's death on 12 June 918. She was the daughter of Æthelred, Lord of the Mercians, Æthelred and Æthelflæd, the rulers ...
, probably met Æthelflæd as a result of the connection between her father and his foster-father. Almost all modern historians who have discussed Edward's parentage say that his mother was Æthelflæd, and most think that she was Edgar's first wife. The historian Nicholas Brooks argues that Edgar must have married Æthelflæd because Dunstan backed Edward's succession to the throne, and he was a strong opponent of irregular unions who would not have supported the claim of an illegitimate son. However, the historian Cyril Hart describes Edward as "of doubtful legitimacy". Æthelflæd probably died shortly after his birth. Edward's tutor in religion was Sideman, Bishop of Crediton. Edgar had his only known daughter, Edith, by his second known consort, Wulfthryth, who retired shortly afterwards to Wilton Abbey with her child. In 964, Edgar married Ælfthryth, the widow of Æthelstan Half-King's eldest son, Æthelwold. Her father was Ordgar, a leading Devonshire
thegn In later Anglo-Saxon England, a thegn or thane (Latin minister) was an aristocrat who ranked at the third level in lay society, below the king and ealdormen. He had to be a substantial landowner. Thanage refers to the tenure by which lands were ...
who was appointed an ealdorman in the same year. She had two sons, Edmund, who died in 971, and the future King
Æthelred the Unready Æthelred II (,Different spellings of this king's name most commonly found in modern texts are "Ethelred" and "Æthelred" (or "Aethelred"), the latter being closer to the original Old English form . Compare the modern dialect word . ; ; 966 ...
, who was born around 968. She was the only wife of Edgar to be crowned, and she became a powerful political figure, especially in her son's reign.


Disputed succession

Edward is first recorded as a witness to the Winchester New Minster Charter in 966. Ælfthryth attested as the "legitimate wife" of the King and Edmund as his "legitimate son", whereas Edward was described as "begotten by the same king". It is uncertain whether this was on the King's instruction, which would indicate that he wished to cut Edward out of the succession, or was ordered by Bishop Æthelwold, who was a friend and ally of Ælfthryth. The historian Barbara Yorke sees the denial of Edward's legitimacy as "opportunist special pleading" by Æthelwold. A genealogy created at Dunstan's Glastonbury Abbey around 969 gives Edward precedence over Edmund and Æthelred. When Edgar died on 8 July 975 there was a dispute over the succession, but as Edward was around thirteen and Æthelred six to nine, the historian Sean Miller observes that "they were surely figureheads rather than active participants". Some historians have seen Edward's supporters as defenders of monastic reform and Æthelred's as its opponents, but there were supporters on both sides, and this view is now generally rejected. The real reasons for choosing between them probably lay in family alliances. Bishop Æthelwold backed his friend Ælfthryth, who naturally put forward the claim of her son Æthelred, while Archbishop Dunstan was Edward's chief supporter. According to John of Worcester, Archbishop Oswald also supported Edward. Oswald was at odds with Ealdorman Ælfhere, who probably supported Æthelred, together with his brother-in-law
Ælfric Cild Ælfric Cild ()Williams, "Ælfhere (''d''. 983)" was a wealthy Anglo-Saxon nobleman from the east Midlands, Ealdorman of Mercia between 983 and 985, and possibly brother-in-law to his predecessor Ælfhere. He was also associated with the monastic ...
, while Ælfhere's enemy Æthelwine (son of Æthelstan Half-King) probably backed Edward. Byrhtferth's life of Oswald portrays Edward as an unstable and violent young man: The historian Frank Stenton comments in his "magisterial and massively authoritative" ''Anglo-Saxon England'': "Long after dwardhad passed into veneration as a saint it was remembered that his outbursts of rage had alarmed all who knew him ... It may have been partly for this reason that a large number of nobles resolved to promote the election of Æthelred, the younger brother." The Benedictine monk Eadmer of Canterbury wrote in his hagiographical life of Dunstan: The historian Ann Williams is sceptical of the last point, commenting that while it is possible that consecration of the king's wife before she gave birth may have been an issue in the tenth century, Eadmer was writing in the early twelfth century when it was an argument raised in favour of King Henry I against his elder brother, and this may have influenced his interpretation. In addition, as Eadmer says that Edgar was not crowned until two years before his death, the same argument applied to Æthelred. The dispute was soon settled. A
calendar A calendar is a system of organizing days. This is done by giving names to periods of time, typically days, weeks, months and years. A calendar date, date is the designation of a single and specific day within such a system. A calendar is ...
entry in a manuscript dating to the late tenth or early eleventh century gives the date of Edward's election as king as 19 July, less than a fortnight after Edgar's death. A charter probably dating to 999 states that Edward was unanimously chosen as king by the leading men of both orders. Æthelred was given the lands traditionally held by the king's sons, including some which had been granted by Edgar to Abingdon Abbey, and which were now forcibly repossessed by the order of all the leading nobles. Æthelred commented in the charter that "whether they did this thing justly or unjustly, they themselves may know", and he granted other lands to Abingdon in compensation. The charter probably reflects a settlement under which Æthelred's supporters agreed to Edward's succession in return for the land grant. He was crowned by Archbishop Dunstan at
Kingston upon Thames Kingston upon Thames, colloquially known as Kingston, is a town in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames, south-west London, England. It is situated on the River Thames, south-west of Charing Cross. It is an ancient market town, notable as ...
, possibly on the same day he was elected. The post-Conquest ''Passio'' gives a different account, claiming that Dunstan forced through the coronation of Edward as king: "But when, at the time of dward'sconsecration, some of the leading men of the nation had wished to oppose t St Dunstan persevered single-mindedly in his election, and, taking hold of the banner of the holy cross which was customarily carried before him, he fixed it upright in the middle, and with the remaining pious bishops consecrated him king."


Edward's reign


The "anti-monastic reaction"

Edward's succession was followed by what historians sometimes call the "anti-monastic reaction". According to the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'', Ælfhere and many other nobles, described by ''ASC D'' as the "adversaries of God", launched attacks on monasteries. His rival Æthelwine was called ''amicus Dei'' (friend of God), and portrayed as the chief defender of the monks, by Byrhtferth, who wrote that in Edward's reign: However, most historians are sceptical of the claim that the conflict was between the supporters and opponents of monasticism, and attribute the disturbances to the nobles' personal rivalries and their determination to recover or obtain compensation for lands which Edgar had forced them to give up to monasteries. Æthelwine founded Byrhtferth's Ramsey Abbey, but he was remembered at Ely Abbey for stealing several of their estates. Ælfhere is said to have disbanded monasteries founded by Æthelwold, but also to have protected Æthelwold's Ely from Æthelwine and been a benefactor of Dunstan's Glastonbury and Æthelwold's Abingdon. Williams comments that "there was more to the seizure of monastic lands than anti-monasticism. In many, perhaps most cases, it was the sharp practice involved in acquiring lands for the reformed houses that was being questioned, as the sellers (who had probably been put under considerable pressure) or their heirs sought to obtain a price closer to the actual market value." Historians find it very difficult to judge the extent of disorder in Edward's reign in view of the very limited information available. At some point, Ælfhere and Æthelwine appear to have come close to open warfare, but there were no battles. A thegn called Leofsige seized estates at
Peterborough Peterborough ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in the City of Peterborough district in the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Cambridgeshire, England. The city is north of London, on the River Nene. A ...
,
Oundle Oundle () is a market town and civil parish on the left bank of the River Nene in North Northamptonshire, England, which had a population of 6,254 at the time of the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. It is north of London and south-wes ...
and
Kettering Kettering is a market town, market and industrial town, industrial town in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, west of Cambridge, England, Cambridge, southwest of Peterborough, southeast of Leicester and north- ...
, causing such disorder that no crops were sown for two years. Leofsige was killed by Æthelwine's brother, Ælfwold, who was then pardoned for the crime by Bishop Æthelwold. The historian George Molyneaux is sceptical of the portrayal of Edward's reign as a time of rampant strife in view of the lack of evidence of fighting.


Administration

'' Witans'' (king's councils) met at Kingston upon Thames, perhaps on the occasion of Edward's coronation, at Kirtlington in
Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...
after Easter 977, and at Calne in
Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...
in the same year. The meeting at Calne was held on an upper storey which collapsed; many leading counsellors were injured and some killed, but Dunstan was unharmed because he was standing on a beam. Ælfhere attested first among the ealdormen and Æthelwine second in all of Edward's charters, indicating that they retained their positions from the previous reign as the leading lay magnates. Edward's first charter was attested by almost all the leading magnates, showing that his rule had been generally accepted. This is the first charter which lists the chronicler Æthelweard as an ealdorman and he was presumably appointed by Edward. There appear to have been no ealdormen covering the south of England in the early 970s, perhaps because Edgar's authority was so great that he was able to cover the area personally. After Edward acceded, three ealdormen were appointed to cover the area, Æthelweard in west Wessex, Æthelmær in Hampshire and Eadwine in Sussex and Kent. If stability had depended on Edgar's personal authority, then it is not surprising that the authorities found it so difficult to maintain order after his death. The ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' disapprovingly records the exile of Ealdorman Oslac of York during Edward's reign, but the circumstances are unknown. Few other events are recorded during his reign: there was a severe famine in 976, Bishop Sideman died in 977, and in 978 Dunstan purchased land near
Hendon Hendon is an urban area in the London Borough of Barnet, northwest London northwest of Charing Cross. Hendon was an ancient Manorialism, manor and parish in the county of Middlesex and a former borough, the Municipal Borough of Hendon; it has ...
in
Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...
from Edward.


Charters

The historian
Simon Keynes Simon Douglas Keynes ( ; born 23 September 1952) is a British historian who is Elrington and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon emeritus in the Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse, and Celtic at the University of Cambridge, and a fellow of Trini ...
sees a diplomatic tradition which extends from the charters late in Edgar's reign to early in Æthelred's, but excluding the intervening "slightly anomalous" charters of Edward. Five charters survive which purport to date to the three years and nine months of Edward's reign, a low number as the average in the period was four to five a year. The authenticity of Charters S 828 and S 829 is disputed. Keynes says that they are fraudulent, but have witness lists which are probably based on genuine texts. The editor of these charters, Susan Kelly, describes them as "very difficult documents", and thinks that they may be genuine. They both appear to have been drawn up at the same time by the same careless draftsman during or close to Edward's reign. S 828 is a grant of thirteen hides of land at Kingston Bagpuize in
Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...
by King Edward to Bishop Ælfstan, probably of Ramsbury. S 829 grants seven hides in the same village to Abingdon Abbey. The boundary clause is the same in both charters, perhaps because the bishop and abbey held different scattered units within the estate. Charter S 831 from the
Old Minster, Winchester The Old Minster was the Anglo-Saxon cathedral for the English diocese of Wessex and then Winchester from 660 to 1093. It stood on a site immediately north of and partially beneath its successor, Winchester Cathedral. Some sources say that the m ...
, is probably authentic and is based on one of 941. It is a grant by Edward to his minister Ælfric of land at Wylye in
Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...
. Charter S 832 is a large grant of land in Cornwall by Edward to Ealdorman Æthelweard. It is closely related to Charter S 830, a grant of land at Cheriton Bishop in Devon by Edward to his "faithful vassal" (''fideli vasallo'') Ælfsige. Both charters are from the
Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...
archive but probably written at
Crediton Crediton is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Mid Devon district of Devon, England. It stands on the A377 road, A377 Exeter to Barnstaple road at the junction with the A3072 road to Tiverton, Devon, Tiverton, north w ...
, and Hart doubts whether they are genuine in their present form.


Coinage

The only coin in common use in late Anglo-Saxon England was the silver
penny A penny is a coin (: pennies) or a unit of currency (: pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. At present, it is ...
. Until late in Edgar's reign, pennies produced by mints in different towns varied in design, weight and
fineness The fineness of a precious metal object (coin, bar, jewelry, etc.) represents the weight of ''fine metal'' therein, in proportion to the total weight which includes alloying base metals and any impurities. Alloy metals are added to increase hard ...
(silver content). In the early 970s, he brought in his reform coinage, with a single design and much greater uniformity of weight and fineness. The coins, with a design called the ''Small Cross'' type, had a left-facing bust of the King on the obverse surrounded by a circle with the King's name (+EADGAR REX ANGLOR M around the edge. The reverse had a small cross in the centre with the moneyer's name and mint-place around the edge. Edgar's reform design was the sole coin type produced during Edward's reign, and it was replaced early in Æthelred's reign. Edward's coins were on average slightly lighter than those of Edgar and heavier than those of Æthelred. The fineness was high and uniform following Edgar's reform at 96%, and this was maintained under Edward apart from a few slightly less fine coins produced in Lincoln and York. After Edward's death, fineness became more variable. During Edgar's reign, dies for coins were almost all cut at one centre, probably
Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...
, and distributed from there to other mints across the kingdom. Under Edward, the centre supplied a far smaller number of mints and it was supplemented by regional die-cutting centres. This may have been due to the difficult political situation in his reign.


Death

Edward was killed on Ælfthryth's estate in the Gap of Corfe in the Purbeck Hills in
Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...
on the evening of 18 March 978. The only detailed pre-Conquest account is by Byrhtferth: Byrhtferth does not say when and where Edward died, and the oldest surviving version of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' (''ASC A'') just says that he was killed in 978. ''ASC C'', written in the 1040s after Edward had come to be seen as a saint, states that he was martyred. The fullest account of his death in the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' is in the northern recension, ''ASC D'' and ''ASC E'', which post-dates the Conquest. This gives the date and location of his death. No version of the ''Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'' states who committed the murder, but the northern recension blames his relatives for failing to avenge his death, and a poem about Edward's death dating to around 1000 says: "It is certain that he died through envy, at the hands of his own kin." Pre-Conquest accounts of the murder do not say who was responsible, whereas post-Conquest chroniclers and hagiographers almost all blame Ælfthryth. The ''Passio'' and John of Worcester claim that she ordered the killing, while William of Malmesbury has her handing him a drink to distract him and her servant stabbing him, and Henry of Huntingdon writes that she killed Edward herself. The ''Passio'' is so biased against Ælfthryth that it deletes favourable information about her in its sources, such as the '' Regularis Concordia'' of around 973, which laid down rules for monastic life. It gave Ælfthryth the role of protectress of nunneries, but the ''Passio'' changes the protectress to Edward's mother. Modern historians have offered a variety of interpretations of Edward's killing. Some blame Ælfthryth's followers and think that she may have been personally responsible. Cnut's biographer, Michael Lawson, thinks that the failure to punish the killers is suspicious and points to Ælfthryth's guilt. Roach disagrees, seeing the fact that no contemporary blamed Ælfthryth as significant, and comments that we must be careful not to see conspiracies which did not exist. The editor of the ''Passio'', Christine Fell, points out that many of the details of Ælfthryth's role appear in the earlier stories of the murders of Anglo-Saxon royals, Saint Kenelm by his sister and Saint Æthelberht by his potential mother-in-law. Fell argues that it was inevitable that Ælfthryth's hagiographical role in the ''Passio'' would similarly be that of scapegoat. Yorke comments that such stories "draw upon hagiographical conventions spiced with traditional beliefs in the enmity of step-mothers for step-children, and should not be taken as reliable accounts of what actually occurred". Another theory is that the murder was the culmination of the conflict between Ælfhere and Æthelwine, and that Ælfhere had Edward killed to preserve his own power and put his own candidate on the throne. The historian Alan Thacker sees Ælfhere's role in the reburial of Edward as an act of expiation. However, Roach points out that Byrhtferth praises Ælfhere's role, even though he was hostile to the ealdorman, and would have condemned him if he had been implicated in the crime. The contemporary poem about Edward's death praises Ælfhere's role, describing him as "most worthy leader". Miller thinks that Æthelred's thegns probably acted on their own initiative in the hope of personal advancement. Edward's personality may have been a factor in his death, as afterwards the opposing factions were able to reach a compromise. There were few changes at court: Ælfthryth and Bishop Æthelwold became more prominent, but Edward's officials mainly kept their positions. Williams challenges the consensus that Edward's death was the result of a plot. She compares his death to an earlier outbreak of violence due to a misunderstanding:


Legacy


Burial and translation

Edward's death deeply troubled contemporaries. Roach observes "Medieval kings were felt to be touched by divinity; not only had they been chosen by God, but like bishops they were anointed into their office with holy oil. Royal consecration was a well-established tradition and the reformers had done much to emphasize the God-given nature of royal authority further ... To kill a king was, therefore, more than a crime – it was a sin of the first order." England had a long tradition of revering murdered kings as saints, and the circumstances of Edward's death made it almost certain that he would come to be seen as a martyr, but this did not occur immediately. He was not regarded as saintly in his lifetime and he did not die defending
Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...
. It was almost a year before he received royal burial, and the delay suggests that there was an argument over what to do with his body, with the case for honourable burial gradually gaining ground. ''ASC D'' and ''ASC E'' say that Edward was initially buried at Wareham without royal honour. Byrhtferth states that a year later "the renowned Ealdorman Ælfhere arrived with a great train"; he ordered Edward's body to be disinterred, and it was found to be incorrupt, which was taken as a miraculous sign; the body was carried with great ceremony for burial in
Shaftesbury Abbey Shaftesbury Abbey was an abbey that housed nuns in Shaftesbury, Dorset. It was founded in about 888, and Dissolution of the monasteries, dissolved in 1539 during the English Reformation by the order of Thomas Cromwell, minister to King Henry VI ...
, a house of nuns. As the senior ealdorman, Ælfhere was probably charged with arranging the
translation Translation is the communication of the semantics, meaning of a #Source and target languages, source-language text by means of an Dynamic and formal equivalence, equivalent #Source and target languages, target-language text. The English la ...
of Edward's body from Wareham to
Shaftesbury Shaftesbury () is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is on the A30 road, west of Salisbury, Wiltshire, Salisbury and north-northeast of Dorchester, Dorset, Dorchester, near the border with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hi ...
for a proper burial to pave the way for Æthelred's coronation on 4 May. The early eleventh century
Archbishop of York The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers the ...
, Wulfstan, wrote that his body was burned, and Keynes comments that "the authority of Wulfstan is considerable", but as political circumstances required that Edward be decently buried, Ælfhere may have been charged with finding another body for the purpose. Post-Conquest accounts, such as the ''Passio,'' have more complicated and hagiographical narratives. The ''Passio'' says that Ælfthryth had Edward's body concealed in a marsh, where it was miraculously revealed in February 979 by a column of fire, and locals took it to Wareham church for burial. Ælfhere was filled with joy when he heard about the discovery of the body, and he took it to Shaftesbury for reburial in a more worthy place. The ''Passio'' goes on to say that in 1001 Edward told "a certain religious" in a vision of his wish to be moved from the churchyard to a more secure place in the abbey. This information was conveyed to the abbess, who passed it to King Æthelred, and he joyfully gave instructions for the relics to be again translated. He ordered Wulfsige, the Bishop of Sherborne, and another prelate, perhaps Ælfsige, the abbot of the
New Minster, Winchester The New Minster in Winchester was a royal Benedictine abbey founded in in Winchester in the England, English county of Hampshire. Alfred the Great had intended to build the monastery, but only got around to buying the land. His son, Edward the ...
, to carry out the ceremony. The translation took place on 20 June, but the King could not be present because he was preoccupied with a Danish invasion. However, the historian Paul Hayward points out that this second translation is not mentioned in contemporary sources and no pre-Conquest calendar prescribes a feast on 20 June; he argues that it was an invention.


Early cult

Edward was recognised as a saint soon after his death, and Æthelred appears to have been the chief sponsor of his brother's
cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...
. It was promoted initially by the ecclesiastical and secular leadership to demonstrate the sanctity of the royal office, but as Viking raids intensified they came to be seen as punishment of the English people by God for a terrible crime, the killing of the Lord's anointed, for which they needed to make amends. Sigeric, Archbishop of Canterbury from 990 to 994, persuaded Æthelred to establish a monastery at Cholsey in honour of Edward, and the king appointed Germanus as abbot. Edward's cult was also recognised at Canterbury and promoted by Wulfstan. In 1001, Æthelred granted a former minster church and land at Bradford on Avon in Wiltshire to God and "his saint, my brother Edward, whom, drenched with his own blood, the Lord has seen fit to magnify in our time with many miracles", to provide a refuge for the nuns and Edward's relics against Viking attack. Sarah Foot describes the donation as "somewhat bizarre" as the Shaftesbury nunnery was in a fortified burh, whereas Bradford was unprotected. Byrhtferth says that the first miracles occurred at Edward's tomb eleven years after his death. Wulfstan's '' Sermon of the Wolf to the English'' of around 1014 cites the murder of Edward and Æthelred being forced into exile by
Sweyn Sweyn is a Scandinavian masculine given name. Notable people with the surname include: Kings: * Sweyn Forkbeard (960–1014), King of Denmark, England, and Norway as Sweyn I * Sweyn or Svein Knutsson (c. 1016–1035), King of Norway as Sweyn II * S ...
's conquest of England in 1013 as examples of betrayals of lords by the English. Out of twenty-five calendars dating to before 1100, Edward's death date of 18 March is listed in eighteen; only nine saints were listed in more, and five also have a feast on 13 February commemorating his translation from Wareham to Shaftesbury. Æthelred's eldest son,
Æthelstan Æthelstan or Athelstan (; ; ; ; – 27 October 939) was King of the Anglo-Saxons from 924 to 927 and King of the English from 927 to his death in 939. He was the son of King Edward the Elder and his first wife, Ecgwynn. Modern histori ...
left £6 "to Holy Cross and St Edward at Shaftesbury" in his will, made on his deathbed in 1014. Cnut also patronised Edward's cult, and the law code V Æthelred of 1008 includes a clause, possibly inserted by
Cnut Cnut ( ; ; – 12 November 1035), also known as Canute and with the epithet the Great, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norway from 1028 until his death in 1035. The three kingdoms united under Cnut's rul ...
in around 1018, which commands that the feast of Edward's martyrdom be celebrated on 18 March throughout England. The historian David Rollason argues that Æthelred and Cnut promoted Edward's cult in order to heighten their prestige by emphasising the sanctity of their predecessor. The killing of Edward led to greater interest in other murdered royal saints by Oswald and in his monasteries, especially Ramsey and
Winchcombe Winchcombe () is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Tewkesbury in the county of Gloucestershire, England, situated northeast of Cheltenham. The population was recorded as 4,538 in the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 census and ...
. Æthelred's failure as a king has been seen by post-Conquest writers and some modern historians as a result of Edward's murder. Goscelin wrote in his life of Edith that Æthelred was unworthy to rule because "his succession had been purchased with his brother's blood". Stenton comments that Æthelred "began to reign in an atmosphere of suspicion which destroyed the prestige of the Crown. It was never fully restored in his lifetime ... Much that has brought the condemnation of historians on King Æthelred may well be due in the last resort to the circumstances under which he became king." His ineffective conduct as king suggests "the reaction of a weak king to the consciousness that he had come to power through what his subjects regarded as the worst crime committed among the English peoples since their first coming to Britain". Æthelred's support for his brother's cult has been seen as an attempt to dispel the cloud of suspicion which hung over him, but this view has been challenged since the late twentieth century by historians who have argued that contemporaries do not appear to have blamed Æthelred or his mother for the murder. Keynes argues that if the royal family had been blamed for Edward's death, glorification of him would have drawn attention to the crime and undermined Æthelred's position. Several religious communities claimed to have acquired parts of Edward's body during Cnut's reign, but William of Malmesbury stated that half of Edward's body was taken to Leominster and half to Abingdon, where they both crumbled, and only the lung remained at Shaftesbury, where it was displayed, continuing to throb.


Later cult

Edward was the only tenth century king to be buried in a nunnery. Shaftesbury, which had been founded by Alfred the Great for one of his daughters, had strong royal connections, and the cult of Edward was valuable to it, giving it a high status among Wessex monasteries. At the end of the Anglo-Saxon period it was the richest Benedictine nunnery and Glastonbury the richest monastery of all. Later in the Middle Ages there was a saying that "If the abbot of Glastonbury might marry the abbess of Shaftesbury, their heir would have more land than the King of England". Edward's cult was important for the prosperity of the nunnery and town of Shaftesbury in the later Middle Ages, and in some medieval documents the town is called ''Edwardsstowe'', "the holy place of Edward". Lanfranc, the first Norman Archbishop of Canterbury, denied the sanctity of many Anglo-Saxon saints. Edward's cult survived but it was regarded as "rustic" and relegated to a minor status only to be honoured in establishments with a particular reason to honour him, such as Shaftesbury. His cult revived in the later Middle Ages, although almost wholly in the southern half of the country. He was regarded as one of the English national saints until they were relegated by the Plantagenets' preference for the more martial figure of
Saint George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...
. Edward survived the
English Reformation The English Reformation began in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away first from the authority of the pope and bishops Oath_of_Supremacy, over the King and then from some doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church ...
, but as a low key figure only remembered on his feast day. Edward's feast of 18 March is still listed in the festal calendar of the 1662 ''Book of Common Prayer'' of the
Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...
. The historian Frank Barlow comments that popular detestation of the crime led people to transform an unpleasant youth into a royal martyr. The historian Tom Watson commented, "For an obnoxious teenager who showed no evidence of sanctity or kingly attributes and who should have been barely a footnote, his cult has endured mightily well."


Dispute over Edward's bones

Shaftesbury Abbey was dissolved in 1539 and the buildings were almost wholly dismantled. Between 1930 and 1932, an amateur historian, John Wilson-Claridge, conducted excavations in the ruins of the abbey. No report of the excavations was ever published, but he claimed to have found the bones of Edward the Martyr in the north transept. The discovery was praised in ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' as one of the greatest historical discoveries of the century. In 1963, the bones were examined by the forensic pathologist Thomas Stowell, who concluded that they were of a young man between the ages of seventeen and nineteen who had suffered injuries consistent with the description of the murder in Byrhtferth's account. Stowell concluded that beyond reasonable doubt the bones were of Edward the Martyr. One of the bones was carbon-dated and found to date to the correct period. Historians' accounts of Stowell's findings usually mention that they were contradicted by the British Museum osteoarchaeologist Don Brothwell, who is believed to have examined the bones and concluded that they were of an older man and that the damage was probably post-mortem, although no report of his examination was ever published. Wilson-Claridge negotiated with several churches to take the bones, but none was willing to agree to his requirement that they would be housed and revered as the true relics of the saint. In 1980, Wilson-Claridge met, in his own words, "by divine providence" a Mr Pobjoy, who was a member of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad (ROCA), which agreed to accept the bones on Wilson-Claridge's terms. Wilson-Claridge's brother strongly objected to the bones going to ROCA, arguing that they should go back to Shaftesbury. The dispute was debated in letters to ''The Times'', including one from Keynes which objected to the bones going to a Russian Orthodox church: "No Saxon can have deserved that fate". In 1988, a High Court hearing ruled that the bones could go to the ROCA Church of St Edward the Martyr, Brookwood, which had been established for the purpose. Historians are very sceptical that the bones in the Brookwood church are those of Edward the Martyr, both because the body taken to Shaftesbury in 979 was probably not Edward's, and because the bones found in 1931 were probably not the ones believed by contemporaries to be his.


Churches dedicated to Edward the Martyr

Churches dedicated to Edward the Martyr are the Church of St Edward King and Martyr, in Goathurst,
Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...
, the Church of St Edward King and Martyr in Peas Hill,
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
, the Church of St Edward, King and Martyr, Corfe Castle, the Church of St Edward King & Martyr, Castle Donington, and the Church of St Edward the Martyr, New York.


Notes


References


Sources

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Edward the Martyr 960s births 978 deaths Year of birth uncertain 10th-century Christian martyrs 10th-century Christian saints 10th-century English monarchs 10th-century murdered monarchs Monarchs who died as children Burials at Brookwood Cemetery History of Dorset Medieval child monarchs Passion bearers English Christian royal saints Roman Catholic royal saints Eastern Orthodox royal saints West Saxon saints House of Wessex English royalty who died as children